A military official says the post-revolution elections will be held on schedule, denying a report saying they'd been postponed til December

The parliamentary elections will be held this September, an army official has revealed.

The official was responding to an announcement made by deputy Prime Minister Yehia El Gamal, in which he said that the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), which has been ruling the country after former president Mubarak stepped down on 11 February, has agreed to postpone the elections to December.

The military official, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the council decided that holding the elections in September will reflect the will of the people, of which 77 per cent voted yes to constitutional amendments during the 19 March referendum. He added that the new parliament will have the responsibility of drafting the new constitution on the basis of which the next presidential elections will be held.

During the referendum, the majority of Egyptians agreed to the schedule put forward by a SCAF-assigned judicial committee, which said that the elections will be held first, followed by the drafting of the constitution.

However, since the results of the amendments were announced, various political parties and figures have asked that the constitution be drafted first. They fear that the new parliament will end up dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, who may then tailor the constitution to their own needs.

Constitution-first advocates also demanded that the elections be postponed to give secular parties the time to gain recognition in the streets and a fair shot in the elections.

Ahram Online welcomes readers' comments on all issues covered by the site, along with any criticisms and/or corrections. Readers are asked to limit their feedback to a maximum of 1000 characters (roughly 200 words). All comments/criticisms will, however, be subject to the following code

We will not publish comments which contain rude or abusive language, libelous statements,
slander and personal attacks against any person/s.

We will not publish comments which contain racist remarks or any kind of racial
or religious incitement against any group of people, in Egypt or outside it.

We welcome criticism of our reports and articles but we will not publish personal
attacks, slander or fabrications directed against our reporters and contributing
writers.

We reserve the right to correct, when at all possible, obvious errors in spelling
and grammar. However, due to time and staffing constraints such corrections will
not be made across the board or on a regular basis.